New CareerBuilder Survey Reveals What HR Managers Know About the Gender Pay Gap

The gender pay gap is a complex issue. In order to begin to understand the situation, it’s important to appreciate the difference between what PayScale is calling the controlled and the uncontrolled gender pay gap. Not only do women earn less than men for equal work, they also do different jobs in the first place. The truth about the gender pay gap is that it’s much more complicated than some people think.

This gender pay gap has deep historical roots and will be a difficult problem to solve, although there are some things you can do to help. Learning more about the issue, understanding it more completely, is a great step in the right direction. And, who better to ask about pay issues than hiring managers? Recently, CareerBuilder did just that.

Do You Know What You're Worth?

CareerBuilder surveyed 3,200 workers and more than 220 human resource managers from around the country. Harris Poll gathered data online during the month of November, 2015. Let’s take a look at a few of the key findings.

1. 55 percent of workers do not believe that men and women are paid equally for the same job…

…Which means that 45 percent do feel they’re paid equally. This simply isn’t true. When examining the controlled gender pay gap, (meaning that we’re looking at the same job done by workers of equal training and experience but of different genders) the difference in pay does narrow, but, over the course of a lifetime, even small cuts can really add up. Additionally, given the complexity of the issue, looking at the controlled gender pay gap alone does not paint a full or fair picture.

2. Just over half (51 percent) felt that men and women are not given the same career advancement opportunities.

For centuries, women were treated very differently than men in this respect. What makes us think that these cultural beliefs and ideas could be fully eradicated in just a few decades? Of course, there are still some influences that stop women from having the same career opportunities as men; although things have come a long way in this respect in recent years, we still have a long way to go.

3. Among the HR managers surveyed, 20 percent said that women do not earn the same wages as their male counterparts for the same work at their organization.

Arguably the most eyebrow-raising data from this survey is the fact that one in five HR managers admits that the gender pay gap (the controlled kind) exists in their workplace. There are a lot of things that HR managers can do to help fix the gender pay gap, but speaking out when they see it in their workplace should be number one.

4. Women are more aware of the gap than men.

When beliefs about the gender pay gap were analyzed by gender, some interesting differences were revealed. Thirty-five percent of women believe there is equal pay, and 56 percent of men agree. Thirty-nine percent of women said there are equal opportunities for career advancement for both men and women, compared with 60 percent of men. The Lean In Together movement has sprung up for precisely this reason; again, this is a complex problem, and we all need to work together to close the gap.

Tell Us What You Think

How do you think HR managers can help close the gender wage gap? We want to hear from you! Leave a comment or join the discussion on Twitter.